


Cryo Hangover

by Jyoshamatsu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying, Crying Keith (Voltron), Crying Lance (Voltron), Fever, Healing pods, Sick Keith (Voltron), Sickfic, Vomiting, a lot of crying, but not really described, is definitely something, it's not klance YET but there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 17:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20970584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jyoshamatsu/pseuds/Jyoshamatsu
Summary: Keith has to go in a healing pod and he doesn't feel well after.





	Cryo Hangover

**Author's Note:**

> There's graphic descriptions of vomiting in this fic (as always, babey!), so please don't read this if that makes you feel uneasy! <3

After a not so successful mission, Keith had to stay in a healing pod for a day. His injuries weren’t drastic but still bad enough.  
Even though he complained, definitely not wanting to go in that thing, Shiro convinced him. After all, it’s nothing bad right? 

Sure, they were tight and uncomfortable but Keith wouldn’t be awake in them for more than a minute. And they never had a malfunction.

Malfunction. Keith felt his stomach churn.  
Malfunction. 

There really was nothing to be afraid of. And if even Lance went in and out of a healing pod without problems, Keith should be fine, right?

… Right? 

His fear was irrational, purely irrational, but this was alien technology, so… 

No, stop, Keith.. stop. He felt sweat prickling at the back of his neck. His chest felt tight and his hands started to feel.. slightly numb..

“Keith.”, he heard and suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts, feeling Shiro’s warm hands on his shoulders.  
“You won’t feel any of it.”, he said softly, “there’s no reason to be scared. It’s like sleeping.”

Keith breathed out shakily, anxiety still in control of his thoughts, but having Shiro here helped him a little. 

Everyone was here, actually, but Shiro was the most important person for him right now. At least he thought so. 

“You just need to take three more steps.”, Shiro said, “We’ll all be here. When you fall asleep and when you wake up.”

Keith took another deep breath. He felt someone softly squeezing his hand and he jumped a little. 

“I can squeeze myself in with you, if you want.” Oh god, Lance. Oh god, you fucking idiot. 

“That’s not— that’s not the best idea.”, Keith whispered. “You’re claustrophobic.” 

He was amazed at himself for keeping his voice so calm. Sometimes when he got anxious, speaking seemed like the hardest task. Getting the right words out, forming a proper sentence.. 

“Yeah, that’s true.”, Lance said, “But it’s kinda.. my fault that you got shot in the first place, so.. I, I don’t know. I don’t want you to be so scared.”

“He’ll be okay.”, Shiro interrupted, lightly patting Lance’s shoulder.  
Keith nodded and took another step forward.  
“Besides, you could need a little cryo nap.”

He took a deep breath and finally stepped inside the healing pod, Lance waving awkwardly at him. 

Keith had no idea how the pods worked. He only knew he was getting sleepy even before the glass door was fully shut. 

This wasn’t so bad after all, he thought, maybe not as comfortable as a mattress but he was too tired to think about… that… right… now…

Yeah, this was alright. He could get used to falling asleep so quickly. 

But his peace didn’t last. It never did. 

Everything felt heavy, he was too warm and uncomfortable. He didn’t have any dreams but he couldn’t open his eyes.  
Keith felt like he had been awake for 48 hours straight. 

Waking up is the worst part, Shiro had told him before and right know Keith couldn’t agree more. 

His chest felt tight, there was no air in this tiny, tiny space. He couldn’t breathe and fear rose up in his body. He wanted to move his hands, wrap them around his own throat, get some kind of feeling — just something, anything else! 

Finally, he felt strong enough to open his eyes, his fingers slowly twitching. 

Air. There was air. He had enough air. He could breathe, so breathe.

Keith took one deep breath as his vision cleared and Lance face, very close to the glass, popped up. Shiro was there too, leaning against the wall.. at least the blurred figure looked like Shiro. 

Oh yeah. He was in the healing pod. Was he fully healed though? He didn’t feel good. He was sweaty and shaky, he didn’t trust his legs to carry him right now.

And he was right. The door opened with a hiss and Keith couldn’t hold his balance, falling forward, right into Lance’s arms.

“Good morning, buddy!”, Lance laughed. “Seems like you couldn’t wait to see me.”

Keith wanted to say something but he was still so shaken up. His throat felt tight and he felt so incredibly dizzy. What was going on?

“Mhmmph—”, he moaned against Lance’s chest, panic rising up. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he felt three meters to the left. 

He felt Shiro’s hand on his back, maybe he realised something wasn’t right, maybe he just wanted to assure Keith he was there.

“It’s normal to feel kinda gross afterwards.”, Shiro said, hand gliding over Keith’s sweaty, shivering back. 

He exchanged a worried look with Lance, who was still holding Keith against his chest. 

“Somethin’s wron’..”, Keith whimpered. He was scared. He couldn’t describe what he was feeling but it was really, really bad. 

“It’s okay”, Lance said, his voice slightly shaky, “Just take a few deep breaths.”

Lance gently pushed Keith off him, still holding onto his shoulders so he wouldn’t fall.  
Keith was pale as a ghost, almost grey-ish, with sweat dripping down his forehead. 

“No”, Keith breathed out, his eyes not focusing on anything, “No, no, something is— some— something is wrong..” 

“Okay, I’ll get Coran to check on you.”, Shiro said, worry in his tone. “I’ll be right back.”

Lance watched him run off and frowned. He felt Keith’s fingernails digging into his shoulders as he heard unfamiliar sounds coming from the red paladin. 

“Keith?”, he asked softly, turning his attention back to him.  
Keith took a shaky breath, as a few tears left his eyes, unwillingly. 

“Hey, Keith..” Lance didn’t know what to do. “It’s okay.. it— it’s normal to feel off for a day after being in a pod, trust me. I—I didn’t feel good either.”

Keith wanted to say something, wanted to tell Lance, it’s not normal, I don’t feel normal, but his body didn’t cooperate. 

He felt so sick, his whole world was just.. spinning and everything hurt. He felt like he was about to fall asleep but he couldn’t. 

Keith opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that left him was a quiet gurgly burp, followed by a not so quiet dry heave. He immediately cupped his hands around his mouth but lost his balance once again. 

“Oh shit, are you feeling sick?”, Lance asked, as he quickly caught Keith again.  
Keith answered with a panicked look and another forceful dry heave into his hands, that sent him down to his knees.

“Okay, okay, that’s normal. I—I threw up a couple times, too.”, Lance said, a bit embarrassed about the last part. 

Keith wanted Lance to shut up. Or talk some more. Help him. Please. 

“Don’t fight it, just let it out.”, Lance tried to soothe, softly rubbing circles over the red paladin’s back. 

Keith shook his head violently, tears flying left and right.

No, he wouldn’t throw up. He couldn’t. No, no, no. 

He felt Lance grabbing his hair and pulling it back, one hand on his forehead, to keep him steady and to keep his bangs out of his face. 

Another burp forced its way up his throat, more forceful this time and saliva dripped out of his mouth. Keith coughed and panted, squeezing his eyes shut, not caring about the tears anymore. 

Keith heaved, a wet burp following, before he heaved again and thick, green vomit poured from his lips, hitting the floor with a sickening splash. 

Lance groaned weakly; he didn’t like this sight, he wasn’t ready for this, this was so gross.

Keith sobbed and that caught his attention again. More vomit spilled from his lips, watery this time, with little chunks of food goo, some splashing onto Keith’s fingers. 

“Oh, Keith..”, Lance sighed, “Just get it out.”

Keith’s stomach lurched again and sent another wave of vomit up his throat, leaving him with a loud gurgling sound. More immediately followed, green puke shooting out of his mouth and nose, leaving Keith gagging and coughing, gasping for air. 

“You’re okay, you’re okay.”, Lance said, his head softly pressed against Keith’s shaking back. 

Keith gurgled out two more small streams of liquidy puke before his stomach calmed down and he had time to sob. 

“No, Keith.. no, it’s okay..”  
Lance wrapped his arms around his friend, softly whispered soothing words into his neck, hoping to give him some form of comfort. 

Keith just cried, vomit sticking to his lips, his chin, his nose… He felt disgusting. A little better but still really fucking bad. 

“Keith, baby, no.. K—Keith..” Lance’s voice was shaky. Hearing Keith sob was too much for him.  
“Please don’t cry, it’s okay.”, he whispered. 

But he couldn’t stop. He was so scared, he just didn’t know what was wrong with him, why did he feel like this!? 

Lance pressed a shaky kiss into Keith’s neck. “Please, Keith, stop crying, you’ll be okay.”, he whispered before breaking off into quiet whimpers and hiccups. He was just too emotional right now. 

Keith sniffed, the smell of vomit in his nose making him gag again. His stomach lurched again a few times but nothing came out anymore.

“A—are you.., cry— cryin’m?”, he whimpered.  
“I’m sorry.”, Lance answered shakily. “Don’t like it when you feel bad..”  
“Oh, Lance..”, Keith whispered, leaning against the blue paladin, before breaking off into violent sobs again.  
“No, no, Keith…, Keith..”  
“Sorry— I’m sorry, Lance..”, Keith cried.

Why did Lance crying about him make him cry even more? Why did it hurt so much to hear him whimper against his neck? Why couldn’t he stop crying? Why couldn’t he stop the pain in his chest?

The two of them sat there crying for a while, not noticing when the door opened.

“Oh my”  
“Keith, Lance! What’s going on?”

Shiro was immediately by their side, trying not to look at the giant puddle of vomit by Keith’s knees.  
Coran slowly drew closer as well, not really knowing if he should say something or not.

“I feel so sick”, Keith cried, “I don’t know what’s going on!”  
“It’s alright. I felt sick too. You’ll be better tomorrow, I promise.” Shiro gave him a soft smile but it quickly faded when he heard Lance sob quietly.

“And why are you crying, Lance?”, he asked carefully and Lance just shook his head.  
“I—it’s okay”, he cried, “I’ll be okay, I’m just scared f.. scared for Keith..”  
“Oh, Lance…”, Shiro sighed and softly pat his shoulder. “You’ll be alright.”

“It actually is quite normal.”, Coran finally spoke up, also kneeling down next to the paladins.  
“What you’re experiencing is called… a cryonic hangover. It hits some people worse than others. It’s really just.. a case of luck.”

“This— this can’t be normal”, Keith whispered, “I—I… I feel so bad..”  
Coran put a hand to Keith’s forehead.  
“Trust me, Keith, it is. But aside from nausea and fever.. tell me what you’re feelings, so we can be sure.”  
“Just— just… everything. I—I’m dizzy, my, just my body! My body hurts and I’m so cold and hot and— and— I don’t know. I’m so tired.”

Coran put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and gave him a warm smile.  
“No, that’s nothing unusual, just a good old cryo hangover.”

Keith bit his lip, tears still slowly falling.  
“You’ll feel better tomorrow! You just need some good rest, drink a lot and maybe eat something. I can give you some medication for the pain as well. But sleep and fluids are the cure.”  
“So— so, he’ll be okay?”, Lance asked. “Is there anything I can— I can do? To help?”  
“You could probably stay with him and make sure he doesn’t dehydrate.. but that’s about the only thing.”, Coran said.

The paladins were like his children and two of them were crying. He wished he could tell them something better right now, just to get them to stop crying. 

“Okay.. okay”, Lance whispered and Keith nodded.  
“Are you.. are you okay with me staying with you?” Another nod. 

Keith didn’t even know why. Normally he’d want to be alone or maybe have Shiro by his side. But he was so.. hurt and worried because of Lance. He wanted him to feel better as well. Keith was sure Lance still blamed himself for all of this. 

Lance let out a sigh of relief. He was so glad Keith was okay with this. He wanted to be by his side right now. 

“Okay.. then let’s.. let’s get you to a bed. Your bed.”, Lance said as he slowly stood up and held out his hand for Keith to take. 

“Do you need anything? Do you want me to stay as well?”, Shiro asked.  
He was trying not to let it show but he was feeling really nauseous and overwhelmed with everything going on right now.  
“I’ll be.. I’ll be okay..”, Keith said.  
Shiro nodded. “Okay.”, he gave Keith a warm smile and turned to Lance. “Just get me if anything’s wrong.”  
“Okay.”

Keith still sat on the ground. There was puke on his hands and he didn’t want to grab Lance’s hand like this.  
“I’m gross.”, he whispered. “I’ve thrown up all over myself..”  
“You’re okay.”, Lance said, “I don’t mind.”

He did mind. He really did, but he tried not to flinch as Keith grabbed his hand and got vomit on him. 

Keith’s legs still felt weak and he lost his balance once again but Lance caught him.  
“Sorry”, Keith said quietly, “I’m so.. so tired..”  
“It’s okay.”, Lance answered, softly brushing his clean hand through Keith’s hair. “You’ll be in bed in no time.”


End file.
